HOME TO THE 'FRAM.' 403 



anything at all. A change of weather set in, however, and the 

 seals jumped in and out of the water, and were never quiet. 



On one of his many excursions Schei came across a large 

 expanse of sand, which was sown with pretty little lakes; a 

 regular goose district. But in the confusing light he suffered the 

 same disappointment that many a good shot has had to put up 

 with before him, and many will hereafter. The bag was not in 

 proportion to the number of shots fired. He came back to camp 

 in a frame of mind that was anything but ecstatic. At midnight, 

 between the 12th and 13th, we started to drive across the bay, 

 with a course on one of the large sandbanks on the south side. 

 The dogs were arrayed in sailcloth shoes with double soles, and 

 for the moment were the coxcombs of Bjornekaplandet. The going 

 was bad beyond description. The ice was entirely covered with 

 a prodigiously thick layer of loose slush, so that, in spite of our 

 ' ski,' we often sank in knee-deep, and the sledges were sucked 

 in so tightly that it was all we could do to loosen them again. 



We tramped steadily on the whole night, and, after a tiring 

 inarch of ten hours, we at last reached the nearest sandbank. 

 Our rest was short, for I was anxious to reach the ship, where 

 there was a great deal to be done before our departure. If the 

 weather had been as good in Jones Sound as it had been here, 

 dredging could now be begun. 



Our knowledge of the country stood us in good stead when we 

 started again, for thick fog hindered all view. We now took our 

 way straight across all the large sandbanks, and, as a rule, only 

 came down to the sea at the inmost corner of the bays ; but even 

 there we did not attempt the sea-ice, as there was still enough 

 snow for us on land, and this saved the dogs' feet. The rivers, 

 however, gave us a deal of trouble and forced us out on to the 

 ice now and again, notwithstanding. We thought it best to camp 

 a mile or so from the place whence we meant to strike across 

 country to Gaasefjord, as it was not easy to see with certainty how 

 the land bore in such flat country, and with the mist sometimes as 

 thick as a wall. 



Just before we stopped for the day I became aware of some- 

 thing white, away by a sandy hollow a hundred yards off. I 



